📊 How to know if your digital marketing is working? 5 free metrics to check it (without paying for a dashboard)

Which numbers tell you if your digital marketing is working?

Five. Each one answers a single question and comes from a free tool:

If you can't answer one of the five today, that's the first one to fix.

How do I know if my website is bringing me customers?

Count leads, not visits. Visits can go up while nobody writes. The number that matters is the contact rate: leads ÷ visits for the same period.

Before calculating it, make sure Analytics is actually recording the leads. It happened to us at altohouse.mx: Analytics showed 15 form starts and 0 submissions because the multi-step form wasn't sending the submit event. The site was receiving messages; the dashboard just wasn't seeing them. Mark form submissions, WhatsApp clicks, and click-to-call links as key events.

How much does each lead cost?

Divide what you spent on ads by the leads that came in during that same period. Compare it against your own goal, not against industry averages: almost all published averages are from the United States and do not reflect your market.

How can you review it without it turning into a report nobody opens?

The most repeated advice in the answers that close these threads is the same: before looking at numbers, decide what you're going to measure.

1. Write down a goal. For example, 20 leads a month.

2. Establish a 28-day baseline. Without a starting point, any number looks good.

3. Review on the same day every week. Fifteen minutes is enough.

4. Note what you change. If you changed the form or launched a campaign, after 28 days you'll know if it moved the needle.

Is there a free dashboard that brings everything together?

Yes, there are two paths.

Looker Studio is free and connects Google Analytics and Search Console at no cost. For Meta or TikTok, you usually have to pay for a third-party connector. You build the charts and decide what to look at.

Alto Dashboard is free, open source, and runs on your computer. It brings together your website, Google Analytics, Search Console, Google and Meta ads, Instagram, competitors, and CRM. It gives you a score from 0 to 100 broken down by areas and a short list of what to tackle first.

If you already know what you want to look at and enjoy building it, Looker Studio is enough. If you want the dashboard to tell you what to focus on, that's what we made it for. We built it for ourselves first: we use it every day at Alto House.

Where does your data live?

On your computer. There are no intermediary accounts or servers: your data does not pass through Alto House. Connecting Google, Meta, or PageSpeed costs nothing. You only pay pennies per use if you activate the Claude-powered analyst.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need to pay for a dashboard to know if my marketing is working? No. With Google Analytics, Search Console, and a spreadsheet, you can answer all five numbers. Paying only saves you the work of putting them together.

How many metrics should I track? Start with the five above. More metrics without a written goal usually create confusion, not clarity.

How often should I review it? Once a week, on the same day, and compare with 28-day windows.

What about sales that I close over the phone or in person? No dashboard can see those. When closing, ask where the customer came from and write it down: that is your number 5.